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Daily Routines: The Importance of Everyday Rituals to Children By Janelle Durham, MSW, Parent Educator, Bellevue College. http://bellevuetoddlers.wordpress.com

A daily ritual is anything which helps us to celebrate the rhythms of life with our children. Routines, when based on love and conscious respect for our children, provide a rhythm to life which is consistent enough to provide safety and security in a world full of new experiences.

Advantages to Rituals and Routines:

Rituals are portable. Unlike a security blanket, they can’t get left behind or get too tattered to use. They can be taught to baby-sitters to give a child a sense of safety and sameness even when mom and dad aren’t around. They can be used to provide a familiar focus to an unfamiliar situation (Re-creating the bedtime ritual can help a child sleep on a plane or anywhere else.)

Rituals are unique to a family and to each child. They provide a sense of a special connection to the past and the future of the family, and help a child to feel valuable and to feel special.

Rituals provide consistency. Children need patterns and consistency in order to feel secure. There are so many changes in a child’s world that he receives great comfort from the reassuring repetition of family rituals. Rituals help a child make sense of the world.

Rituals help to smooth out the day for parents too. Once you develop habits, there’s a lot less last-minute panics and frantic planning. Also, easing transitions with ritual means fewer tantrums.

Rituals help families to examine what works for them and what is important to them. Some families value the routine of three home-cooked, sit-down meals a day. Others find themselves eating fast food all the time, but find their ritual time at bedtime when the whole family gets some quiet interaction time. The important part is for each family to find its own way.

Pitfalls to Avoid

The ideal routine provides some stability and sameness to everyday life, yet is always flexible and able to adapt to new situations, and always meaningful for those whom it serves.

Rigidity: Making comfortable routines into absolute and unbreakable rules takes away all their benefits, leaving a controlling, oppressive feeling. Balance consistency with flexibility.

Obligatory Rituals: Change or eliminate rituals which feel forced, which are no longer enjoyable, or which only create pressure, busyness or guilt.

Minimized Rituals: As anthropologist Brett Williams states: “Imagine a family where nothing was special - not meals, not bath time, not holidays, not birthdays. Eventually, the children get the message that they’re not important, that life doesn’t mean much.”

Some Ideas for Rituals for Everyday Use

Morning. Many children need to greet the morning slowly and gently. They need to be eased into the day ahead. How do you greet the day together? If morning is a mad rush in your house, how can you make space for a more pleasant beginning? Try:

Sing a traditional song to greet each day.

Begin every morning cuddling your child as you look out the window, talk about the weather and the things that you see together, and about what to expect from the day ahead.

A quiet breakfast together, reading or just being quiet. Rituals can set understandable limits for early risers: they know they can get up when it’s light

outside, when the alarm goes off...

Off-to-work. When a parent leaves in the morning, a good-bye ritual can help the child feel important and valued, and help him understand that when parents leave, they always return later. The routine may include a family hug, a special good-bye phrase, or waving bye-bye from the window. Welcome homes are also important, as a celebration of the family reunited. Transition Times. Toddlers, especially, have a hard time with transitions. Leaving a park, having clothes changed, being left at a baby-sitter, or stopping a game to eat lunch can all cause tears and tantrums. Rituals ease these transitions by helping the child understand what to expect. Clean-Up Times. Having a special clean-up song or game can encourage kids to tidy up. Making a ritual of it also helps to point out that whenever toys go away they will come back later. Mealtimes. In many cultures, the most valued traditions involve groups gathering together to eat. Mealtimes can be a deliberate ritual of human interaction, offering good food to nourish physical well-being, and good fellowship to nourish physical well-being. Making mealtime special can also help to develop good eating habits, positive attitudes about food. Try:

Setting the table - a little effort at formality helps set aside the mealtime as something special. Saying grace, or singing a song before every dinner. Checking-in. Everyone shares news of their days - gets others’ undivided attention.

No TV!!! Make this an interactive family time. Studies of the characteristics of healthy families show that one of the major priorities of strong families is a special mealtime.

Bedtime. Bedtime rituals are very important for a child. They are a chance to wrap up the day, and get centered again and re-connect to the family with some quiet time together. Some children especially need these rituals, which can provide reassurance for a child who is frightened of the night, calming and quieting down time for a child who has a hard time settling down on her own, and consistency and predictability for a child whose daily life is chaotic or unpredictable. It’s helpful to do a short version of this ritual, or some other special routine, at nap time. Try:

Before bedtime may be bath-time, the warm water helps to soothe some children. Bedtime snacks are also a good idea. Brush teeth so bacteria doesn’t build up overnight.

Give a five-minute warning, so the child knows bedtime is coming - eases the transition. Changing into pajamas - helps to signal the end of the day. Re-cap the day’s activities, and talk about what to expect out of the next day. Play a quiet game that takes concentration and togetherness. Story-time and cuddle-time. (With some kids you have limit how many books you’ll read...) Give child a chance to pick out a special toy (stuffed animal or book) to take to bed. Bedtime prayers are important to many families. Lullabies work great - some families sing the same every night, some like variety. Bibliography: Why Not Celebrate by Sara Wenger Shenk. Good Books, 1987. Seven Times the Sun: Guiding your child through the rhythms of the day by Shea Darian. Luramedia, 1994.

“The Doula, a Magazine for Mothers.” Issue #24: Family Rituals and Celebrations. What to Expect the Toddler Years by A. Eisenberg, H. Murkoff, and S. Hathaway. Workman Publishing, 1994.

Rituals for our Times by Evan Imber-Black and Janine Roberts.